Stephanie Charlefour is a public librarian, specializing in youth and teens in Michigan and blogs at Love.Life.Read. She had this to say about Kiersten White's Mind Games. "I picked this book up on a Sunday morning—not sure what to expect. I read the synopsis and it sounded interesting but I have never read a book by Ms. White. Let me …
Review of Giant Dance Party
Aaron Zenz, a dad and illustrator, harnesses the power of actual members of the Fiction Picture Book demographic on his blog, Bookie Wookie Reviews. Here's what he and his family have to say about Betsy Bird's Giant Dance Party: Isaac (age 14): “Giant Dance Party.” Lily (age 10): (singing) Hey, hey, hey, it’s a good book! Gracie (age 12): When …
Review of Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant
Finding Wonderland has been around since 2005, forever in the Kidlitosphere. Aquafortis contribute to this blog and has this to say about this nomination to the Graphic Novel division: "If you like swashbuckling adventure, strong female protagonists, and plenty of outlandish mayhem, then Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant delivers in spades. I'm going to note right up front: don't …
Review of Strike Three, You’re Dead
Mark Buxton has been blogging at Buxton's Blog O' Books (which was named by his 6th grade students!) since 2009. He recently retired from teaching after 35 years, the last several of which he taught 6th grade language arts. He still volunteers and substitutes at school, helping in the library and coaching the Battle of the Books team. I know …
Review of Ten Plants That Shook the World
Alice, a part-time pediatrician and a full-time mom to two boys and a girl, blogs about a variety of books at Supratentorial. While she covers picture books as well as some middle grade stories, she is on the first round panel for Elementary and Middle Grade Nonfiction for the 2013 Cybils. Here is her review of Gillian Richardson's Ten Plants …
Review of Lincoln’s Grave Robbers
Sherry Early is a reader and home school teacher from Texas who blogs at Semicolon. Here is her take on Steve Sheinkin's book, Lincoln's Grave Robbers, which has been nominated in the Young Adult Nonfiction division: "I enjoyed Lincoln’s Grave Robbers mostly as look into history and the almost comical antics of both criminals and police in the post-Civil War …
Register Now for KIDLITCON!
Here at the Cybils organization, we are big fans of the Kidlitosphere Conference (aka KidLitCon). KidLitCon is an annual conference for children's and young adult book bloggers (though anyone is welcome). KidLitCon is a much smaller conference than, say ALA or BEA. There are usually a few bookish giveaways, and a book exchange, but the focus of KidLitCon is not …
Review of The Pet Project: Cute & Cuddly Vicious Verses
Bridget Wilson blogs at What is Bridget Reading. She is the Youth Services Librarian for a Regional Library in North Carolina. She presents programs, develop collections, & much more for four libraries. She nominated Lisa Wheeler's The Pet Project (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, April 2, 2013) in the poetry category, and said the following about it: Synopsis: A young …
Happy Birthday, Sheila!
It's Sheila Ruth's birthday today, so leave your well wishes in the comments. This contest wouldn't get off the ground every year without Sheila's hard work and dedication. Without her fabulous database, her publishing contacts, her work ethic and literary mojo, this would just be another cool blog about books that got updated once in a while. So tell her …
Review of Dirty Little Secret
Lucy at The Reading Date has been blogging about Young Adult and Adult Fiction since 2010. She participates in the Waiting on Wednesday and Mailbox Monday memes, lists e book deals, and occasionally reviews movies as well. Back in July, she reviewed one of the books nominated for the Cybils in the young adult fiction section. Dirty Little Secret by Jennifer …